Vorläufiger Bericht über die Fortpflanzungsgeschwindigkeit der Nervenreizung.

Helmholtz succeeded in measuring the velocity of the nervous impulse, by applying the knowledge and techniques of ballistics to the problem. In 1852, using a pendulum-myograph of his own invention, he measured the duration of an electric current through a galvanometer from the moment the nerve was stimulated to its interruption when the muscle contracted. A more detailed report “Messungen über den zeitlichen Verlauf der Zukkung animalischer Muskeln und die Fortpflanzungsgeschwindigkeit der Reizung in den Nerven”, appeared in the same journal volume, [276]-364, with its second part in the volume for 1852, 199-216.